Mergence
by DenizenofTwilight
Summary: "Kairi immediately took Sora's hand in her own. She'd held this hand so many times. There were painful as hell memories of it and some of her greatest memories of it. She would turn this moment into one of the great memories." NOT AU. Post-KH2.


**Disclaimer: **I _do_ own my view as to how I believe Tetsuya Nomura wanted the fans to understand the Xion/Roxas/Naminé love triangle. However I sadly don't own _Kingdom Hearts_.

This is an entry for sunflowerb's "Us" contest. Enjoy.

**Mergence**

Sora was a great hero. The dream guy that all of the Destiny Islands girls wished would be theirs. He was the epitome of cheerfulness and pureness. Sora… was a freak of nature.

_You ain't just whistling Dixie, bud. _Sora sighed upon hearing the voice of his Nobody inside his head. This was a perfect example of why he _was_ a freak. No, he didn't have split personalities; Roxas was just his Nobody with whom he had recently assimilated. And he was having a few issues of getting his mind back to the way it was before losing his heart.

You see, when someone loses their heart to darkness, the heart that is lost turns into a heartless. Monsters of the darkness that live only to steal other people's hearts. And the body and soul left behind after that begins to act with a will of its own, becoming what is known as a Nobody. Sora had sacrificed his heart to bring back the heart of Kairi, his best friend. (And secretly the love of his life.) So he had become a heartless and Roxas had come into existence. In the end Kairi had been able to use her mysterious powers to bring Sora back to life and a year later he ran into his other half, Roxas, and Roxas returned to Sora. The only problem now was that Sora wasn't simply talking to himself, but talking to a part of him that actually answered back. It was very disconcerting. And very hard not to go crazy.

_Naminé is so cute when she's being a perfectionist. _

Sora scoffed at his Nobody's thoughts. **Her name's** _**Kairi!**_

Sora imagined that Roxas would probably be rolling their eyes at that statement. His thought seemed to echo Sora's suspicion quite well. _I know that, Captain Obvious. Technically she's Kairi. But can't she be_ _Naminé to me? I don't have much freedom, you know. The least you could do is let me _think_ the name of my girl._

**Since when is Kairi or Naminé or **_**both**_** our girl?**

_Touché_.

"Mr. Callenay, that answer is simply not true. The Spinosaurus was actually larger than the T-rex."

Sora smiled affectionately at the girl sitting beside him. "Good job, Kai." It was only after that that other students began murmuring about the perfect mayor's daughter and that she seemed to never be wrong.

**You **_**are**_** right**. **Kairi is so cute when she's being a perfectionist.**

_And why are you messing things up with her again?_

"Me? It's your fault too, Roxas!" Upon receiving various shocked, confused and wary stares Sora wished the Earth would just open up and swallow him. Why had he spoken to his Nobody aloud? Everyone would think he was even more so crazy now. At least Kairi had learned not to speak aloud to her other half.

Then again…Naminé seemed to be a lot more introverted than Sora's Nobody was.

_Sora, we're supposed to _protect_ the world order, remember?_

He wanted to once again blame Roxas for everything, but he had to admit he'd caused some of his own setbacks. It was true enough that Sora, Kairi and their best friend Riku were supposed to keep their adventures of the last two years a secret, but Sora was having a hard time not revealing need-to-know information. He'd had more trouble going back to normal than one would have thought…

In the end he would have been more willing to babble all of their secrets to anyone and suffer the consequences than have another try and miss with Kairi. Nothing had been worse than what had happened at the winter dance…

***

He'd been watching the princess dancing with Riku and of course he'd become unnecessarily jealous. After all, Riku had tried time and time again to get Sora and Kairi together. Although Riku had liked Kairi in the past, Sora should have been able to give Riku the benefit of the doubt after all they'd been through.

_You know how Kairi loves these kind of functions. Now's the perfect time to tell her how you feel. _

It seemed that Roxas had given Sora a sense of security. After all, he'd faced far scarier trials in the past. He should have been able to stand to talk to his best friend without getting all tongue-tied.

It was with that thought that Sora had approached his dancing friends. "Do you mind if I cut in?" he said.

Riku burst out laughing and Sora was far too distracted by Kairi's beauty to care about his friend's strange behavior so he let it go.

"Sora, I'm honored. I know you get nervous when it comes to maneuvering your big feet… but I need punch first. You don't mind do you?" Sora hadn't even registered when Kairi had attempted to poke fun at him with the feet comment. Kairi just made everything always seem like cotton candy and bubblegum when she spoke. Her voice was pretty much the incarnation of it.

It was upon receiving a speculating glance from Kairi that Sora realized how worn out and parched she looked. He was instantly contrite. "Of course, Kai. Let's go."

When they had maneuvered to the punch bowl and Kairi was drinking some much needed liquid… Sora realized how breathtaking the princess of heart looked. Oddly enough everything seemed to be red on the strange night. Kairi's curled auburn hair was shown off by her simple but elegant orange-red dress, the punch was red and Sora soon realized that his outfit had turned red. He'd unwittingly switched to his Valor Form.

Throughout his journey Sora had learned to merge powers with his allies to reach their full potential. His outfit would, in effect, switch between seven different forms based on how he used the abilities. Since returning home Sora had gotten stronger with the skill and had learned to utilize his full power without assistance. The only problem was now his outfits usually matched his mood. He needed to say something embarrassing before anyone realized how embarrassed he was, hence the blushing red his outfit now ordained.

"Kairi, you look… I mean you're so… you look…"

"Sora, what are you…"

In hearing Kairi's question Sora lost his resolve and his brain went into a fight or flight instinct. In a moment he'd always regret he took _his_ cup of punch and splashed its contents in Kairi's face. "You look red," he said lamely.

Everyone that had gathered around seemed too shocked to speak. Kairi's violet eyes blazed. "What the…" she stammered.

Sora was instantly repentant, hoping to make up for what he had done. "Kairi, I'm so sorry, it's just… I mean the world order!" he stammered on incomprehensibly.

It was then that Kairi smiled _that_ smile. Her smile she reserved only for Sora when he was acting like a child. How he hated that smile. And the tone of voice she would have when she tried to speak in this mood. "It's okay, Sora. I'm fine. _It's_ fine." She was far too nice. He deserved to be berated. But maybe her over-forgiving mother approach was enough.

The rest of the night dragged on with no problem. Kairi had cleaned herself up and even danced with Sora. But the memory would always be burned into his mind of all the ways he failed her…

***

_Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. That wasn't our most shining moment. _

Well, at least Roxas wasn't solely blaming the event on Sora. "I wish there was someway to etch the memory out of my skull…" He'd spoken out loud _again_. At least this time no one had heard him. Save the girl sitting beside him.

"Nobodies can be problematic, huh?" Kairi smiled sweetly at Sora as to placate him.

He planned to turn to her more directly as to comfort her too, except there was a problem… he couldn't turn his face or they'd smack faces. Somehow they had drifted closer together.

Kairi sensed Sora's panic immediately. "Sora?"

_Kiss her!_ Roxas exclaimed.

**Roxas we're in class!**

_I don't think Kairi cares!_

"Ugh." Sora once again spoke out loud. He was near having a full blown panic attack. It shouldn't have surprised him at all when his Keyblade materialized in his hand. After all, he and the legendary weapon had a strong bond. It would always appear in his hand when he felt the smallest bit of fear. He'd always been thankful for it in the past, but now…

For the life of him he couldn't get the weapon to immaterialize. **You're supposed to fight against the darkness, not **_**Kairi**_**! **Sora had no idea to whom he was thinking that.

_Dude, the weapon chose us to be its master. Shouldn't we__ have expected it'd be somewhat faulty? _

Sora couldn't deal with Roxas' insults right now. He had to get the main reason for their journey to turn inconspicuous again. **Roxas, help! You're the Keyblade master too.**

Sora could easily imagine that Roxas was blushing. _Umm… I really can't. Naminé's making me nervous too._

**Real helpful, you hypocrite! **

Roxas would have probably been rolling his eyes if he could. _It might help if your hand holding the Keyblade wasn't quivering. Use your other arm to hold it still._

Good news: Sora effectively followed Roxas' advice and they were in the clear. The Keyblade had returned to Sora's pure heart.

Bad news: He had accidentally smacked Kairi in the face. Her face had been too close and while trying to stifle his nervous spasms his elbow had hit her in the face pretty hard. **Well, she's never gonna want to kiss us again. **

Sora had finally seen the light. "Mr. Callenary can I go to the nurse's office?" _This way I won't send _Kairi_ to the nurse's office…_

-/-/-/

It shocked Kairi when she was the first one to reach her, Sora, and Riku's usual perch at the Paopu Tree. Sora had even gone home early. So why was no one else out here?

_You don't think he's very ill do you?_ Kairi was trying very hard to keep her sanity at Naminé's thought. Sora would have told Kairi if he was feeling bad wouldn't he have?

It was due to her slight annoyance that she acted quite out of character when she did see him. She scowled at him.

"Where's Riku?" Sora asked nonchalantly.

Kairi rolled her eyes. Could he have been any more evasive? "So you skipped the rest of school then?"

"No, believe me, I did in fact have a fever." Sora made a face after saying it. So Kairi figured that Roxas must have made a joke about Sora's comment.

_Don't get me wrong… I love Sora, as I'm just a small part of you. You also know that I loved Sora in the whole Castle Oblivion incident. But Sora can be such a goof sometimes. It's easy to make jokes_. Naminé thought to defend her Roxas.

Kairi's head felt muddled, and when Sora began walking towards the Paopu tree to sit with her, Kairi could just imagine Sora knocking her into the water with the way he'd been acting lately. She rubbed the place he'd hit her in the face subconsciously.

Sora frowned at the movement. "I'm sorry, Iri." Sora began by using the special occasion nickname he'd coined for her. "I've been a little tense lately…"

"So I've noticed."

_And that is so the understatement of the century_, Naminé added.

"Now you know I usually detest violence, Sora. But should I be summoning my Keyblade to defend myself from your 'tensions'?"

"No. You don't need to take precautions," he said humorously. But soon all traces of humor left him. "It's just… I'm afraid."

Kairi frowned. She had not been expecting that. "What are you afraid of?"

"You."

Kairi's breath instantly hinged in shock and in pain. Naminé was ever quiet and she knew that the simple word had shaken her too.

"I'm afraid of messing things up with you, of hurting you. Of losing you. I'm just afraid. It seems the things I've gained during our journey are reacting to that. You're the scariest thing I've ever faced, Kairi."

For the first time in her life Kairi wished that Sora's eyes weren't such a vibrant blue. It hurt her to see all of the life sucked out of them and to only see the anguish. When people were sad they were always compared to being blue.

Kairi immediately took Sora's hand in her own. She'd held this hand so many times. There were painful as hell memories of it and some of her greatest memories of it. She would turn this moment into one of the great memories.

By cupping the right side of his face, Kairi forced Sora to look at her. "Despite what you think, you can never mess things up with me, or hurt me. And you'll certainly never lose me. Our hearts are connected. We're together even when we're apart."

"I have no reason to be upset. I mean we communicated telepathically through Roxas one time… when most people are separated from their loved ones they don't even have _that_. Still, it's not enough for me. I need to see you. To feel you in my arms, to know that I haven't failed as your protector."

"Sora… you could never lose me indefinitely. And I think you're underestimating the strength of our bond. You and I are never separated anymore. We're each half of a whole. It seems to me that your main problem since you've gotten back has been mergence. You've had trouble after merging with your Nobody; you've had trouble merging back to every day life. To not having to be _fighting_ for your life. To not having to feel fear anymore. Believe me when I say that things will go back to normal. And _we_ will be fine."

"How can you be so sure?" Sora asked in a timid manner.

"Because fate owes you. Our whole journey has had to do with coming together with people. Fate won't tear apart our linked souls: it was fate that made them so."

"I hope you're right."

"You don't want to forfeit your Keyblade over to Riku again, do you?" Sora shook his head in the negative. "Then go back to the optimistic love of my life and stop over thinking our time together. What time we _have_ is all I need."

"How can you be the positive one when we're the ones who ruined your life? When the things related to the Keyblade hurt you so deeply?" Sora cringed in trying to imagine one day without Kairi. They'd been spending so much time together since he got back… he couldn't fathom how awful she must have felt a year away from him _and_ Riku. Everyone thinking she was crazy… "Seriously. How can you be so positive?"

"It's a gift," the princess said cautiously. The memory of their time apart hurt deeply and she was trying to reassure Sora. "Do you want to know something about you, Sora?" She began a different approach. "You've always felt unworthy of me. I can tell these things. And I can imagine you feel even more unworthy now. I'm a princess of heart in one world and the mayor's daughter in another. To you that probably puts the biggest possible gap between us. But one already existed, Sora.

"You were always the one to take the blame for me when I did something wrong. You were always the one to tell me how special I was when Riku made me feel bad about being a girl. And you were always the one to love me unconditionally when I hurt you over boys or fights with friends, or my own secret sadness of not having my memory or knowing myself.

"Throughout all of that, how could you not see that I had felt unworthy of _you_?"

-/-/-/

It was then that it all became clear to Sora. Kairi was right. Their souls were welded to each other, for they were one in the same. Fate would never be able to destroy such a tie. Not that it would want to. Fate, after all, should owe Sora something and Kairi was a part of him. If they were separated it would surely be the same as him being killed. Sora would no longer protect Kairi from battles, but allow her to join his side. He would never forsake her again; he would keep her with him like the precious treasure he'd always known she was. It was ironic that she was now _more_ in reach upon realizing they'd both felt unworthy.

"Kairi, I love you," Sora said. He was now the one sitting impossibly close to _her_ and leaning forward.

"As I do you."

For once the Nobodies were in perfect sync with their Somebodies and as Sora and Roxas were counting their lucky stars that their dream finally seemed to be coming true…

Kairi and Naminé decisively moved at the right moment causing Sora/Roxas to fall into the crystal blue water below them.

Sora laughed. He _had_ deserved that. He figured they had to take a walk in each other's shoes to truly be joined together in the beauty that was the mergence in his life.

As he thought this, he knew that somewhere, somehow, Riku was guffawing.

--

--

**Author's Note: **This was so much fun to write. I've had this idea in my head for years now and it's a relief to see it come together this way. I wonder if Sora _will_ have issues merging his two lives together in upcoming games. Major thanks go to sunflowerb for this one, as I truly believe that she was the one that started the Somebody/Nobody interactions. And if some of my interactions seem like her writing I hope no one minds… I'm learning from a great KH author.^^ Also, it was sunflowerb that originally coined the nickname "Iri" so props to her for that;) I just wish I could have included Riku more… And the reason Riku was laughing at first was because he knew his dancing with Kairi would make Sora jealous, Riku planned it. And Riku _was_ laughing at the end, as he was walking to the Papou tree and saw Kairi push Sora into the water. LOL. Well, I hope you all enjoyed it and feel free to leave your thoughts. I'd intended this to be all funny but it did get a more serious note at the end. Do you think I should have stuck with the funny or do you like how it ended with Sora and Kairi? Well until next time… may the light guide you.

P.S. Free laughing Rikus for anyone who reviews.

XOXO, Shanna


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